Texas Rangers Bench Slugger Prince Fielder

Prince Fielder, the struggling slugger for the Texas Rangers lashed out with an expletive after being asked if he was in need of a mental break.

As for any problems physically being the reason to blame for his poor batting average of .187, that led Jeff Bannister the Texas manager benching him two straight games over the weekend, Fielder said his joints and bones felt fine.

Fielder underwent neck surgery two season’s ago, but said the only things that were aching were his feelings and heart.

Fielder, whose batting average is a paltry .187 with only one home run in his last 39 games played, was taken out of the Rangers lineup and replaced by Jurickson Profar at designated hitter for Sunday’s game against Seattle.

Profar, the former top prospect of the team, has had at least one hit in each of the eight games he has played since a call up from the minors. He is batting .378 over that span.

Profar took the place of Rougned Odor at second base during Odor’s suspension of seven games for his right cross to the face of Jose Bautista.

Odor returned to the lineup on Saturday, which prompted the move of Profar to the DH spot.

Fielder told reporters that the decision by Bannister did not make him happy, but he respected and understood the decision.

Fielder said he had never sat out due to poor play in his career, but that it happens. Last year, added Fielder, there were a number of issues on the team and some were the same thing as he is going through.

They were able to turn things around and finish with strong years and he feels he will be no different. He added that what makes things a bit easier is that the team is winning as last year during the problems others were having the team was not winning.

Fielder was amongst the leading hitters in the American League during the first couple of months last season, without little power, until he found his home run stroke and was selected to the All-Star Game with 14 home runs and 54 RBIs at the time of the break. He ended the season batting .305 with 23 home runs and 98 runs batted in.

However, this season, his batting average has stayed around .200, although he did drive in runs earlier in the season, but not of late. He currently is in a tailspin of 0 for 12 at the time Bannister benched him.

Texas traded for Fielder in 2014 when he was only two years into his 9-year contract worth $214 million that had been signed during 2012 with Detroit.

He still has four complete years left on the contract with about $100 million remaining to be paid.